Advertising: She Does - TIME Advertising: She Does Google+ "Does she ... or doesn't she?" asks one of advertising's most familiar and titillating slogans. The question, as every reader of advertisements knows, refers to artificial hair colorand the odds on an affirmative answer have dropped from 15 to 1 to 2 to 1 since Miss Clairol first asked it eleven years ago. Sales of tints, rinses and dyes have risen from $25 million to $186 mil lion a year. So popular is their use that some states no longer require women to list their hair color on their driver's licenses. Now industry-leading Bristol-Myers' Clairol division, whose Miss... To continue reading: Shirley Polykoff, 90, Ad Writer Whose Query Colored A Nation - The New York Times The New York Times N.Y. / Region |Shirley Polykoff, 90, Ad Writer Whose Query Colored A Nation Search Shirley Polykoff, 90, Ad Writer Whose Query Colored A Nation By ROBERT MCG. THOMAS JR.

JUNE 8, 1998 Continue reading the main story Correction Appended Shirley Polykoff, the pioneering advertising woman who came up with a single double-entendre that changed the face, or rather turned the heads, of American society, died on Thursday at her home on Park Avenue. She was 90 and the author of the ''Does she . . . or doesn't she?'' slogan, which unleashed American women to choose the color of their hair. In an era when hair color is no longer a fiat of nature but a routine fashion choice, it is easy to forget that as recently as the mid-1950's hair coloring was such an exotic exception to a cultural norm that only 7 percent of American women dared dye their hair, mainly actresses, models and other fast women. Then in 1956 Miss Polykoff invented the ''Does she . . . or doesn't she?'' campaign for a tiny Bristol-Myers division known as Clairol. Almost overnight, the slogan became a national catch phrase, and dyed hair (although never thereafter, she made sure, known that way) went from declasse to de rigueur.

Attracted by the slogan and its reassuring tag line, ''Hair color so natural only her hairdresser knows for sure,'' within a decade nearly half of all American women were regularly coloring their hair, and sales of dyes, tints and rinses had soared from $25 million to $200 million a year, with Clairol accounting for more than half the total (as it does today with industry sales of more than $1 billion). Once the lone female copywriter at the giant Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency, Miss Polykoff became the agency's lone female executive vice president, the toast of Madison Avenue and the 1967 Advertising Woman of the Year. Advertisement Continue reading the main story For the Brooklyn-born middle daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, especially one whose mother wanted her to be a boy, the triumph was hardly a fluke. From the time she was 11 and made ''$3 and change'' for 12 hours' work selling coats in a Brooklyn department store, Miss Polykoff had relished proving herself in the traditional masculine role of breadwinner.

By the time she arrived at Foote, Cone & Belding in time to take over the new Clairol account in 1955, Miss Polykoff, who had written her first advertising copy as a teen-age secretary at Harper's Bazaar, had long since established herself as a star in retail advertising, first for a series of department and variety stores, including Bamberger's and Kresge in Newark, then for New York agencies with retail accounts. As one of the few women in a male-dominated industry selling almost exclusively to women, the traditional household purchasing agents, Miss Polykoff had an advantage over her sometimes obtuse colleagues, particularly those who told her the proposed ''Does she . . . or doesn't she?'' campaign was too suggestive. In her 1975 book, ''Does She . . . or Doesn't She? And How She Did It,'' Miss Polykoff recalled that when similarly obtuse executives at Life magazine turned down a 10-page Clairol layout because of the double-entendre, she challenged them to poll the women in the magazine office. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter.

You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy When the dirty-minded executives could not find a single woman who thought the line had any smutty connotation, Miss Polykoff was not surprised. She had realized all along that well brought-up women of the 1950's, the Clairol target audience, would never admit, as she put it, ''that a nice girl ever got an off-color meaning about anything.'' The ad ran, and, as she recalled, ''everybody got rich.'' To some latter-day feminists, Miss Polykoff was somewhat perplexing, on the one hand an obvious pioneering role model for professional women, on the other a woman whose success, which included such campaigns as ''Is It True Blondes Have More Fun?'' and ''If I've Only One Life to Live, Let Me Live It as a Blonde,'' depended on catering to women's vanity as sex objects. Miss Polykoff, who frankly used her femininity to charm men and who chided modern businesswomen who try to ape men, did not apologize.

For all her ambition and outsized success as a woman, Miss Polykoff was cut from a pre-feminist mold, never forgetting, as she often put it, that she was ''a girl first and an advertising woman second.'' Growing up as the awkward middle daughter between two raven-haired beauties, Miss Polykoff, who saw her blond hair as her only physical distinction (at least until she began to develop what she called her ''sexy curves''), was so distraught when her hair began to darken as a teen-ager that she began having a local hairdresser lighten it, just to make the back match the front. That fiction sufficed until her future mother-in-law secretly asked her son the Yiddish foreshadowing of ''Does she . . . or doesn't she?'' Miss Polykoff also unabashedly put husband and family above her career, going so far as to hold her Foote, Cone salary to $25,000 so as not to earn more than her lawyer husband, George P. Halperin.

After he died in 1961, the agency doubled her salary twice in less than a decade, and when she retired in 1973 to open an agency under her own name she had been Foote, Cone's highest paid salaried employee for many years. She is survived by two daughters, Laurie Zucker of Athens, Ohio, and Alix Nelson Frick of Manhattan, the president of Franklin Spier Advertising; a sister, Lillian Ovberg of Glen Cove, N.Y., and three grandchildren. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Correction: June 15, 1998, Monday An obituary last Monday about Shirley Polykoff, the advertising woman who devised the slogan ''Does she . . . or doesn't she?'' in 1956 to advertise hair coloring products, referred incorrectly to the ownership of the advertiser, Clairol. The company was independent at the time. It was acquired in 1959 by the Bristol-Myers Company, now Bristol-Myers Squibb. The 10 Best Slogans and Taglines of All Time - Quality Logo Products, Inc. You're Awesome!

Resource Center » The 10 Best Slogans and Taglines of All Time T he best slogans and taglines are so memorable that they do more than launch their associated products to the top of the market. They also remain in our society's shared vocabulary long after those products have achieved success. A great promotional slogan (or tagline) is short, catchy, and memorable. It contains only a few words, yet it's incredibly difficult to produce, and there's no magic formula for producing one (much to the relief of gainfully employed marketers everywhere). Every quality tagline shares a few common details, though. The best slogans of all time fuel our imaginations, make us think, and often possess a "feel good" factor. Interestingly enough, they rarely mention the product or business actually being promoted. Instead, an outstanding slogan engages audiences and inspires people to associate it with the brand behind it, although in some cases, the slogans can be more popular than the brand itself. In fact, many brands create taglines that are so successful and unforgettable that they become slogans for life in general. Seriously, children of the '80s, how many times did you ask somebody where the beef was?

Some of the best taglines are still used by their respective parties today, even though they were launched decades ago, and often find their way onto promotional products. You can call that "retro" if you like. We call it "staying power." There is some debate about which slogans fit into the top ten, but there's little doubt that the ones we discuss here are some of the most successful advertising efforts in history. 1 "A Diamond is Forever" This deceptively-simple advertising slogan was launched by the De Beers Diamond Company in 1938 as the headline for what would become one of longest-running marketing campaigns of all time. Those four little words - a diamond is forever - suggest a sense of timeless, "we'll always have Paris" romance and tie that romance to the diamonds that De Beers sells. The De Beers Diamond Company remains one of the largest diamond suppliers in the world, possibly because of this solid, sparkly slogan, possibly because customers imagined being part of a love story as great as Casablanca's. 2 "Just Do It." In 1988, a struggling sportswear company called introduced this memorable line into its advertising and soon catapulted to the front of the pack.

The company is called Nike. You might have heard of it. This quality slogan brims with attitude and captures the defiant and determined mentality that's required of successful sports stars. "Just Do It" is a bold statement that inspires athletes to work harder, a no-nonsense call to action that audiences instantly associate with Nike's apparel and accessories. It also serves as encouragement to customers when they're looking at Nike merchandise, credit card in hand. 3 "Got Milk?" This ad campaign, created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, debuted in 1993 as a message from the California Milk Processor Board to encourage people to drink more milk. Its simple tagline was accompanied by witty commercial situations, attractive stars wearing milk mustaches, and stadium cups emblazoned with the short-but-sweet slogan. This campaign demonstrated the power of straightforward messages that are easy for consumers to remember. It also demonstrated the power of showing beautiful celebrities sporting hilarious milk mustaches in getting people to believe that milk really does a body good. 4 "Where's the Beef?" This marketing campaign, created for Wendy's by Saatchi & Saatchi, captured the frustrations of every fast food patron in the 1980s.

Although this top-ten tagline was intended to poke fun at competitors' beef-lacking burgers, the catch phrase rapidly became a symbol for everything lacking in substance and quality, from student essays to company budgets. While the campaign ran for only a few years, the wildly popular slogan endured and took on a life of its own. 5 "Great Taste, Less Filling" Beer might not seem like a difficult sell, but Miller Brewing Company faced an uphill battle when its light brew was initially introduced. For years, beer had been marketed primarily to the more macho corner of the market. How could Miller introduce a concept like low-calorie beer to such a crowd? In 1975, an ad agency called McCann-Erickson Worldwide neatly solved this problem through a few advertisements. The new commercials depicted beefy, athletic men doing what beefy, athletic men were believed to do often in those days: fighting, in this case, over either the "tastes great" side or the "less filling" side of the quality tagline. The struggle allow Miller to maintain its masculine image-hurrah! The slogan also found its way onto Miller merchandise like beer koozies and boxer shorts.

6 "Don't Leave" Home Without It" American Express launched this campaign, created by Ogilvy & Mather, in 1975. The slogan was intended to establish traveler's cheques and traveler's check cards as essential accessories for daily life, right up there with the house keys. Since its release, this catchy tagline has been quoted, parodied, and repeated so often that it has worked its way into the American lexicon, with people everywhere holding up important objects and urging friends and family not to leave home without them. 7 "Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand" Coined by ad man Rosser Reeves and introduced by M&Ms in 1954, this enduring slogan has real appeal to consumers of all ages. It addresses a problem that every kid faces when she's playing in the sandbox and every parent laments when it's time to do laundry- candy mess. This slogan's simple truth reminds parents and children worldwide what's so appealing about these tiny treats. Even though M&Ms has since changed product taglines, and it's now creepy to think of the humanized M&M characters melting in people's mouths, audiences still easily recognize and identify this one. 8 "Does She...

or Doesn't She?" Clairol first used this mysterious tagline in 1957. In addition from working to liberate women from traditional ideas of beauty (because wearing a hat all the time just produces hat head), it ended up being one of the most successful slogans of all time. Clairol aimed to remove the stigma of hair coloring by introducing a new line of more natural-looking color. The answer to the slogan's question, as written by Foote, Cone & Belding, was: "Hair color so natural, only her hairdresser knows for sure." Rarely do companies want their products to be unnoticeable. With this tagline, Clairol embraced the mystique. 9 "You're in Good Hands with Allstate" Sometimes, employees better understand how to present a company than any marketer could. This simple yet firm slogan, written by an Allstate Insurance Company salesperson in 1956, was intended to depict a strong and trustworthy institution committed to its customers. Needless to say, the company tagline was a success-Allstate still uses it in their commercials and advertisements, and people still associate it with its original source.

10 "We Try Harder" Avis Rent-A-Car launched a new advertising campaign in 1963 that featured this tagline written by Bill Bernbach of DDB. Bernbach suggested that Avis shift its focus to customer service, a monumental decision, and a slogan like "We Try Harder" reinforced that focus. The idea that a company would focus not on sounding established and successful but on searching for ways to improve-go figure, but it took guts to be modest, especially for a company that had been considered second place to car-rental giant Hertz. That approach not only made Avis successful and established them as worthy competitors, but it still drives them, even today. Article By Jill Tooley Jill has been obsessed with words since her fingers could turn the pages of a book. She’s a hopeless bibliophile who recently purchased a Kindle after almost 6 years of radical opposition, and she loves stumbling upon new music on Pandora. Random interests include (but are not limited to) bookstores, movie memorabilia, and adorable rodents. In addition to managing the QLP blog, Jill also manages the content development team, assists with the company’s social media accounts, and writes like a fiend whenever given the chance.

You can connect with Jill on Google+ . "Top" Lists Does She or Doesn’t She? | buildingpharmabrands Does She or Doesn’t She? by buildingpharmabrands The modern hair coloring revolution came not through a safer product, or through a one-step, easy-to-use formulation, but through clever, image-changing advertising, wrote Charles Panati, the former Newsweek editor and a successful author of many books. Specifically, it was the long-running Clairol campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s that asked – Does She or Doesn’t She? – that helped eliminate the stigma for women who were trying only to hide a few strands. With a wink the subhead in these ads replied: only her hair dresser knows for sure! In 1949, the single-step Miss Clairol Hair Color Bath was introduced to the American beauty industry. In 1956, Clairol launched an at-home version of Miss Clairol Hair Color Bath and became a household name. Clairol’s one-step home color was a breakthrough in the beauty industry as was its advertising campaign.

Clairol hired the advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding, which assigned the account to a junior copywriter, Shirley Polykoff, the only female copywriter at the firm. When Polykoff met her future mother-in-law for the first time, she took her son aside and asked him about the true color of his girlfriend’s hair. Does She color her hair or Doesn’t She? The embarrassed Polykoff could imagine what her mother-in-law was asking. Although, Polykoff did color her hair, the practice was not something to which women openly admitted during that period. In 1956, when Polykoff was assigned the Clairol campaign hair dye was still considered to be something not used by genteel women. Polykoff remembered and recalled the question her mother-in-law asked – Does She or Doesn’t She? and one of the century’s most enduring, appealing and successful advertising slogans was born! Does She or Doesn’t She? became a very effective and memorable slogan. The first time Clairol asked this question in 1957, the answer was 15 to 1. That’s right, only one in fifteen women were using artificial hair color.

Just eleven years later, the answer was 2 to 1 according to a report published by Time magazine. In 1967, eleven years after the launch of the Clairol campaign, Polykoff was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame. Malcolm Gladwell wrote in True Colors, a 1999 New Yorker history of a hair dye that: Clairol captured the feminist sensibility of the day with a shampoo-in hair and memorable advertising slogans. In writing the history of women in the postwar era, did we forget something important? Did we leave out hair? What is the secret of Clairol’s uncommon advertising success? Clairol did the opposite of what most marketers would do. They didn’t want everywoman on the street running around saying that they were using their product. Instead they wanted women to understand that their product was so good, people wouldn’t be able to tell if they were using it or not. Sometimes, simply conveying how and why your product works is not enough. Showing becomes more effective than telling. Can you think differently for your products and design compelling communication strategies? Strategies that rather show than tell about your products?

Share this: ‘Does she or doesn’t she?’ has a new meaning Search: ‘Does she or doesn’t she?’ has a new meaning You may be too young, but do you remember Clairol’s famous “Does or doesn’t she?” advertising campaign? Shirley Polykoff created the suggestive slogan in 1956. She was her company’s only woman copy writer and she became an advertising legend. In 1950, only about seven percent of women admitted to dyeing their hair. Six years after the launch of “Does she or doesn’t she?” Clairol’s sales increased by more than 400 percent. I have childhood memories of that commercial. It ran for years and featured a lovely, natural-looking – often blond – mother and her adorable children. The voice-over asked the iconic question as her handsome husband embraced her. This happy beautiful woman seemed to have it all. It is interesting that a large number of women say that they colour their hair to express their personalities, not just to hide signs of aging. Clairol’s recent “Global Impact Survey” showed that 88 percent of women feel their hair has an effect on their confidence.

Even more tellingly, most women admitted to colouring their hair to feel better about themselves. It is obvious there is no stigma attached to hair colour today. That’s why I was interested in a survey done by IF Marketing, using data collected by Chicago-based facial plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Dayan. He was interested in the link between hair colour and Botox, so in the IF study, 70 percent of the women surveyed both coloured their hair and used cosmetic Botox. I called Dr. Dayan to find out more about his interest in the connection between the early evolution of hair colour and the current evolution of Botox and similar cosmetic products. Dr. Dayan found that before the 1960s, women were very unlikely to admit to dyeing their hair. They shared their secret only with their hairdresser. Dr. Dayan wanted to know whether Botox was becoming a “choice … the same way that hair colour is today”. He told me that he thought that cosmetic injections were becoming as acceptable as hair colour. Dr.

Dayan’s survey found that 69 percent of women who receive Botox also dye their hair, while in the general population, 75 percent of American women dye their hair. What this means, he told me, is that “contrary to popular conception, a Botox user is not more concerned with image than the average American woman.” Dr. Dayan told me that the average Botox he treats is 30 to 40 years old, but that older women use it too. He explained he administers a combination of Botox and fillers, depending on what he is trying to accomplish. And he usually concentrates on the area of the eyes, “because when you meet a person you look at their eyes.” He also told me it’s affordable. I agree. While Botox injections can start at $200, depending on the patient and doctor, a jar of department store anti-aging cream can easily cost the same — or even more. What troubles me is how polarizing the issue has become. Some women today – except for those in the entertainment or fashion industries – are as likely to whisper “does she or doesn’t she” about Botox and other cosmetic injections.

Some are so rude, they’ll cross-examine you: “Do you or don’t you use Botox?” A recent article in a woman’s glossy said two high-profile women in the entertainment industry look wax-like because of their “cosmetic producers”. I disagreed. But to me and their legions of fans, they both look fabulous and natural. To confuse things further, a different article in the same magazine the month before extolled these same procedures. Is it any wonder women are confused? I don’t understand why anyone cares what anyone else does, unless they feel threatened. I have no patience with women who complain that other women "raise the bar too high" by looking too good or too young. It’s nonsense! If you don’t feel good about how you look, fix it. Don’t complain about how someone else looks. I have never understood the nasty remarks some women – and men — make about women who look fabulous after 40. They say things such as “she must use Botox” in sneering tones. Who cares why or how a person looks fabulous – just enjoy the view. I know women in both camps who look fabulous – those who use injections and those who don’t.

Many women actually like Botox and dermafillers. In a survey of 175 women, the Great Neck-based anti-aging medical center MesoBoutique found that 80 percent of women aged 30 and up want to look younger, but only 36.5 percent would consider having a facelift. Fifty-five percent are interested in non-surgical procedures such as Botox and microdermabrasion. Why the secrecy? According to the Daily Mail Reporter 72 percent of women keep cosmetic procedures such as Botox secret and have even asked for “subtler changes” to look more natural. I think there are two reasons women don’t discuss using Botox or other procedures. I think the nasty comments about women who are "overly-Botoxed and wax-like” sting, even when they are not true. No one wants to be target of this type of meanness and teasing. Secondly, I think most women who care about their appearance prefer to maintain a mystique. They may not hide their fitness routines, but they don’t publicly dwell on the details of their diet or other regimes either.

They’ll probably be happy to share beauty secrets with a close friend, but don’t expect an expose – it isn’t sexy or dignified at any age. They colour their hair subtly, dress timelessly, and look fabulous. You may well ask: does she or does she? But you can be sure of only one thing: she will have the good manners not to ask you. Ad Age Advertising Century: Top 10 Slogans | Special: The Advertising Century - AdAge Adage Aleady a member? Sign in Get More From Ad Age Register to become a member today. You'll get the essential information you need to do your job better, including 7 free articles per month on Ad Age and Creativity Ability to comment on articles and creative work Access to 9 custom e-newsletters like Ad Age Daily, Ad Age Digital and CMO Strategy To get unlimited content and more benefits, check out our Membership page Register Now Want more Access, Content & Connections? We are glad you are enjoying Advertising Age. To get uninterrupted access and additional benefits, become a member today. Already a member? Log in or go back to the homepage . Hey, there. It looks like you're using an ad blocker.

The news and features are funded in part by our advertisers. To support Ad Age and the industry we cover please either: Ad Age Advertising Century: Top 10 Slogans Published on See more from The Advertising Century An unforgettable phrase that perfectly encapsulates a brand promise is the basis of many a successful campaign. Once found, a slogan can define a brand for decades. Here are the top 10 slogans for the 20th Century, as well as another five that Ad Age just couldn't leave out. "A diamond is forever" - DeBeers "Just do it" - Nike "The pause that refreshes" - Coca-Cola "Tastes great, less filling" - Miller Lite "We try harder" - Avis "Good to the last drop" - Maxwell House "Breakfast of champions" - Wheaties "Does she ...

or doesn't she?" - Clairol "When it rains, it pours" - Morton Salt "Where's the beef?" - Wendy's "Look Ma, no cavities!" - Crest toothpaste "Let your fingers do the walking" - Yellow Pages "Loose lips sink ships" - public service "M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand" - M&M candies "We bring good things to life" - General Electric In this article: AdSlogans.com -- Wise Words/3 Some fun and easy approaches to take the pain out of tagging your company. ï¿½ 2000 Alan Sharpe 1. Ask a question Does she or doesn't she? Clairol 2. Use a two-fold delivery with a twist Common sense. Uncommon results 3. Show your unique commitment We try harder 4. Address a specific need For women whose eyes are older than they are Robert Powers (skin cream) Takes a licking and keeps on ticking Timex 6. Be abstract but client-centred After all, it is your information Authentex Software 7. Evoke a benefit in a fresh way Let your fingers do the walking Yellow Pages 8.

Describe your product in a novel way Liquid jewelry 9. Use an emotive call to action Reach out and touch someone AT&T 10. Link company name to product benefit Never forgets 11. Use an evocative call to action Put a tiger in your tank Esso 12. Suggest the cost of not using your product Because so much is riding on your tires Michelin 13. Use an imperative call to action Just do it 14. Be grotesque to make a point Wears like a pig's nose W. M. Finck & Co. (men's overalls) 15. Use a one-word call to action Think 16. Turn a business maxim on its ear Think small 17. Use a cheeky call to action Let us tan your hide Crisby Frisian Fur Co. 18. Link a well-known phrase with your product benefit Understanding comes with Time 19. Revisit a familiar call to action Reach out and bust someone Crime Stoppers We take the world's greatest pictures Nikon 21. Link a product feature with an abstract need A diamond is forever 22.

Brag about your product and your client You and Betty Crocker can bake someone happy Betty Crocker 23. Link a feature with your address We corner the market 24. Take a breath and say it all Finest anti-knock non-premium gasoline ever offered at no extra cost Union Oil Co. 25. Combine a feature and a benefit in the same phrase Make yourself at home 26. Describe your service and its #1 benefit in two words Advertising pays 27. Declare a superlative feature The world's #1 selling financial software Quicken Foote, Cone & Belding's Shirley Polykoff Removed the Stigma of Hair Coloring for Clairol | Adweek Advertising & Branding Throughout history, women have grappled with a biological inevitability that is, literally, always top of mind: Sooner or later, they go gray. As the common wisdom goes, about 50 percent of women will be 50 percent gray by the time they turn 50. Men go gray too, of course, but they don’t seem to agonize over it the way women do (they have other worries, like baldness).

In fact, according to WebMD, 75 percent of American women admit to color-treating their hair. Among men, it’s only 11 percent. Given these realities—both biological and social—it’s no surprise that hair-dye ads aimed at women have been with us for three generations now. The ads on these pages show us that much, but they also show us something far more interesting. While the process of coloring hair has remained largely the same, attitudes about it have not. “It’s a generational thing,” said Marti Brady, president and co-founder of consulting firm Beauty Management Group. At one time, women routinely concealed the fact that they dyed their hair. Many just lied about it. But today? “Most people don’t care,” Brady said, “so long as they look good.” In 1956, Clairol had a problem on its hands. Its new Miss Clairol “hair color bath” not only achieved natural-looking results in just one step, but women could also use it at home. The problem was the social stigmas tangled up in the practice of dyeing hair. Historically, most women who colored their locks either worked the stage or, worse, the sidewalk.

The task of destigmatizing hair coloring fell to Shirley Polykoff at Foote, Cone & Belding . As the agency’s sole female copywriter, Polykoff understood that the key to selling Miss Clairol was to reassure its buyers that the color they’d get from that little box would be so natural, nobody would ever guess. Her tagline “Does she...or doesn’t she?” did the necessary reassuring so perfectly, it remains one of the most successful slogans in advertising history. By the time this 1962 ad appeared in Life, Miss Clairol sales were already well on their way to $200 million—up from $25 million when Polykoff got the account. This little piece of marketing genius was actually a one-two punch. The “Does she or doesn’t she?” question hovered at the ad’s center. Its predicate (“…only her hairdresser knows for sure”) hovered further down. The line’s success hinged on relieving the uptight mores of the era itself, Brady said. “Back then, everything was so much more formal.

Women got dressed up to go to the store.” Today, of course, not only do plenty of women not care what they wear to the store, but they also don’t care if anyone knows they dye their hair. In a social sense, that’s probably a good thing. The inadvertent result, however, is the disappearance of innovative advertising. The 2013 ad for Clairol’s Nice ‘n Easy, Brady said, “looks like all the other beauty ads. There’s nothing iconic about this.” Nope. But you have to admit, those blond locks sure look natural. Makes you wonder if she dyes her hair or not. Hmmm. Does she or doesn’t she? Get the Advertising & Branding newsletter: Check out our other newsletters: Daily Digest Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a confirmation email. Top Ten Advertising Slogans of the Twentieth Century | buildingpharmabrands Top Ten Advertising Slogans of the Twentieth Century by buildingpharmabrands Ad Age Advertising Century: Top 10 Slogans The top ten advertising slogans of the twentieth century have helped build lasting brands that enjoy immense customer loyalty and franchise even today. 1. De Beers: Diamonds are forever.

Frances Gerety, a young copywriter from N.W. Ayer & Son, a prominent U.S. Advertising Agency created this most powerful slogan of the twentieth century in 1947. Today after sixty-six years, it is still going strong and 90 per cent of Americans recognize it. 2. Nike: Just do it. Created twenty-five years ago in 1988, this inspiring slogan while fundamentally simple, is distinct in its meaning. Just Do It means don’t think, don’t ask, don’t talk about it, don’t regret it, Just Do It. The slogan was coined at an ad agency (Wieden+Kennedy) meeting in 1988. 3. Coca-Cola: The pause that refreshes. Although created in 1929, you still hear this popular slogan sometimes today. As a manner of speaking, pause serves us in a number of ways. It not only refreshes, but also makes us look thoughtful, confident and credible. We can take a pause to refresh a presentation, refresh a meeting or a training session, refresh your problem solving process, refresh your plan and indeed refresh everything! 4. Miller Lite: Tastes great, less filling.

McCann Erickson, a leading advertising agency created this campaign in 1974. Miller Lite beer is a classic example of repositioning a women’s product to become a man’s product. Before the launch of this product, light beer was considered a women’s drink. This powerful slogan engrained the image of Miller Lite so firmly and deeply that Lite has become a mainstream beer, that having women fight over it does not water down its image. 5. Avis: We Try Harder. In 1962, Paula Green, a copywriter at the famous ad agency, DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach) penned the famous tagline, which has become synonymous with superior quality service. Avis, however dropped this tagline in 2012, after 50 years of living and breathing superior customer service. It’s your space is the new tagline that has just rolled out a few months ago. 6. Maxwell House: Good to the last drop. It is said that Theodore Roosevelt once drank coffee at the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson in Nashville, Tennessee, and said it was good to the last drop.

The coffee served to him was from the Maxwell House (hotel) in Nashville – a regional brand of coffee, marketed by the Cheek family. The Cheek family sold the brand to General Foods in New York, which in the 1920s made wide use of the slogan. Maxwell Coffee became a national brand name in the 1920s. Maxwell Coffee was the largest selling coffee in the U.S. till 2007, when it was pushed to the second position by Folgers. 7. Wheaties: Breakfast of champions. Wheaties was invented accidentally when a health clinician in Minneapolis who was simmering bran gruel for intestinally distressed patients spilled it onto a hot stove and dried into flakes. Washburn Crosby Company (now General Mills) introduced Wheaties in 1924. The brand adopted the Breakfast of Champions slogan in 1933 and in 1934 the Wheaties box featured its first athlete, Lou Gehrig. 8. Clairol: Does she…or doesn’t she?

Clairol, the breakthrough one-step hair color in the beauty industry from Proctor & Gamble created one of the most influential taglines – Does she or doesn’t she with the help their advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding in 1956. Shirley Polykoff, the only female copywriter at the firm penned the slogan. The slogan countered the stigma of hair color and created a wholesome, sentimental image for Clairol. Within six years of the campaign 70 per cent of all adult women were coloring their hair catapulting Clairol’s sales fourfold. In 1967, Polykoff was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame. 9. Morton Salt: When it rains, it pours. A common expression that you are likely to hear from friends and family when everything seems to be going wrong in your life: When it rains, it pours. It’s that expression that allows us to say something when there’s really nothing to say. This expression, when it rains, it pours, which helps us make sense of a string of bad luck, comes from a very unusual source – from an advertising slogan created for a brand of table salt that is free-flowing. N. W.

Ayer & Son, the oldest advertising agency in the United States created this irreplaceable slogan for Morton Salt, When it rains, it pours in 1914 – almost a hundred years ago. 10. Wendy’s: Where’s the beef? The slogan, rather the query first launched and heard in 1984 soon became an all-purpose national catchphrase questioning the substance of an idea, event, or product. The phrase became associated even with the 1984 presidential election. The former Vice President Walter Mondale successfully used the phrase where’s the beef to cast doubt on Senator Gary Hart’s new ideas and changing the debate to specific details, earning him the Democratic nomination during the primaries. Can you draw inspiration from these winning and memorable tag lines and think strategically, work on developing some powerful and memorable tag lines for your own brands? Express Logo Design, Famous Advertising Slogans 1. Ask a question: Does she or doesn't she? - Clairol 2. Show your unique commitment : We try harder - Avis 3. Explain product superiority: Takes a licking and keeps on ticking - Timex 4.

Evoke a benefit in a fresh way: Let your fingers do the walking - Yellow Pages 5. Use an emotive call to action: Reach out and touch someone - AT&T 6. Use an evocative call to action: Put a tiger in your tank - Esso 7. Use an imperative call to action: Just do it - Nike 8. Use a one-word call to action: Think - IBM 9. Use a cheeky call to action: Let us tan your hide - Crisby Frisian Fur Co. 10. Revisit a familiar call to action: Reach out and bust someone - Crime Stoppers 11. Link a product feature with an abstract need: A diamond is forever - DeBeers 12. Link a feature with your address: We corner the market - Irving Rivers Ltd. 13. Combine a feature and a benefit in the same phrase: Make yourself at home - IKEA 14. Declare a superlative feature: The world's #1 selling financial software - Quicken 15. Make a compelling promise: The world on time - Federal Express 16. Be whimsical: It's the real thing - Coca-Cola 17.

Say it staccato: Soothes. Cleanses. Refreshes. - Murine eyedrops 18. Use a two-fold delivery with a twist Common sense: Uncommon results - David Ingram and Associates 19. Address a specific need: For women whose eyes are older than they are - Robert Powers Skin Cream 20. Be abstract but client-centered: After all, it is your information - Authentex Software 21. Describe your product in a novel way: Liquid jewelry - Lorr Laboratories Nail Polish 22. Link company name to product benefit: Never forgets - Elephant Memory Systems 23. Suggest the cost of not using your product: Because so much is riding on your tires - Michelin 24. Be grotesque to make a point: Wears like a pig's nose - W. M. Finck & Co. Men's Overalls 25. Turn a current business maxim on its ear: Think small -Volkswagen 26. Link a well-known phrase with your product benefit: Understanding comes with Time - Time Magazine 27. Brag about yourself: We take the world's greatest pictures - Nikon 28.

Brag about your product and your client: You and Betty Crocker can bake someone happy - Betty Crocker 29. Take a breath and say it all: Finest anti-knock, non-premium gasoline ever offered at no extra cost - Union Oil Co. 30. Describe your service and its #1 benefit in two words: Advertising pays - Industry Maxim 31. Personify your product: Laughs at time - Du Pont Paint 32. Distill your business into one phrase: The Document Company - Xerox Corp. 33. Tie your slogan to your logo: Get a piece of the Rock - Prudential Insurance Co. 34. Dare to be different: Dare to diff - LOEB Col

Question: What product was advertised with the slogan “Does she…or doesn’t she?”
Answer: Clairol